Wrong!
by Pen Sil
Summary: They'd been wrong about all their assumptions when it came to Korra's absence from training. She wasn't about to forgive them.


**Wrong**

* * *

She'd known it was a bad idea to "offer" Pema to go grocery shopping for her the minute the pregnant lade said she wasn't feeling strong enough to do it. Tenzin had conveniently been gone for a council meeting and the kids were too young.

She knew they were trying to get her out of the house for some fresh air and new surroundings, but she really wasn't up for it. With everything that had happened with Amon and Mako and Bolin's new "teammate" she really wasn't up for seeing anyone other than the airnomad family.

"I just have to get this over with and go back home," she muttered to herself and exited the ferry. "If I'm lucky I won't meet anyone who knows me."

Hurrying up to the twenty-four hour shop she entered and pulled Pema's list out of her pocket. It was the reason she had taken the ferry to the main land. Had she swum like she usually did she'd have soaked it and the ink would have lost its form.

Grabbing a basket from the pile she hurried through the rows. Fish, _check._ Noodles, _check_. Carrots, _check_.

Looking down that the herbs before her she stopped in her tracks. It wasn't that she was jealous of Asami or anything, but… the girl had entered her life with bad – yet wonderful – timing. Her father was now the sponsor of the Fire Ferrets. Which was good or they wouldn't have gotten any farther in the tournament.

But…. With everything that had been going on with Amon Korra had really needed her friends and… Bolin had been there in the beginning. "But apparently those two will do anything for a pile of gold," she muttered to herself.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean…. I understand that they've had a difficult past and that money hasn't come easy to them," she continued to mutter to herself, not understanding that someone had spoken to her. "But geez, have a little _pride_. Most would jump at the opportunity at a sponsorship but being paid to –"

"Korra!"

This time she reacted and she did so by freezing in her tracks. _Dammit._ _Okay… just – ignore him, yeah, that's it. What was next on Pema's list?_

"I know you heard me," Mako snapped and reached out for her shoulder. "Why haven't you been to practice la-"

As soon as his hand touched her shoulder she whirled around fire in hands and a scowl on her face to tell him exactly how angry she was with him. Of course, he also noticed the fear in her eyes and the unusual extra bending she used. What had she been rambling to herself about again? "Because apparently, _Mako_, I am no longer a friend of you or your brother so _maybe_ I thought I'd do what I came here to do in the first place!"

"What?" that halted him in his tracks. "No longer a friend of -? What do you mean?"

"I haven't had a lot of friends in my life," she told him. "But from what I've gathered you're supposed to notice when they're feeling – Never mind. It's none of your business anyway."

"What?" his voice grew cold as he read her words wrong. "Been feeling left out? Because from where Bolin and I stand you're the one who didn't show up for practice."

"I haven't been feeling left out," she snapped and took a step closer to him. "I've been feeling useless, unneeded and not worth the trouble of help!"

As she advanced on him Mako took a step back. Now he was really confused. What was she talking about? "You know what?" she continued, "the only one who has thanked me for _giving a rat's ass _about your brother's abilities to bend was Bolin himself! Even though you _told_ me yourself that he was the most important thing to you!"

"Well… he is, but…"

"But that, Mako? Maybe you still don't get why I've stopped coming to –"

"No!" he snapped, deciding that it was time to turn the tables. "I get it. You're jealous of Asami."

"Wha-?" she spluttered a laugh. "Jealous of Asami? Me? Have you forgotten who I am? I'm the Avatar! I'm not jealous of your little girlfriend! She can't bend! That's my greatest fear!"

And finally, it clicked. And she saw it on his face and she knew she had said too much. Swiftly turning around to look at her list, while at the same time walking away, she forced herself to ignore the dumbstruck look on his face.

For a moment Mako just gaped at her retreating back. She'd been angry at him for not thanking her for helping find and save his brother? She'd been afraid of losing her bending and she had joined that councilman in his forceful way of trying to take down Amon looking more insecure than he had ever seen her before.

Why hadn't he noticed?

"Okay, I get it!" Mako yelled after her as she turned and vanished down another isle.

"You've assumed wrong twice now," she called after him. "What makes you think you've got it this time?"

_Because I was blinded by something…_

He knew to keep his mouth shut, though, as he had noticed that people had started to watch them – and recognized who they were. Personal conversations were better kept in private, he decided, so he just stayed close to her through the rest of the shopping.

That seriously unnerved Korra. What game was he playing now, if he ever played games? Didn't he feel it was worth the trouble which was why he didn't say anything or was something else wrong? Mako was usually hard to read, but this was just annoying. So, she glared at him once in a while but otherwise tried to ignore his presence behind her.

As soon as she'd paid for the groceries she hurried outside. "I should have taken Naga with me," she muttered to herself.

"Good for me she didn't."

"Do you think I would have even come here if I knew you'd be here?" she snapped at him over her shoulder.

"Apparently not," he answered as he easily caught up to her. "And apparently you're not as confident as you let everyone believe you are."

"Well duh," she muttered under her breath, but continued to stalk towards the ferry. If she was lucky she could reach it before it took off again, or she'd have to wait an hour for it to come back. That'd be plenty of time for Mako to crack her walls.

"Excuse me?"

_Crack._

She spun on him then, eyes so full of anger that it stopped him in his tracks. "Do you _only_ see me as the avatar, Mako?" she hissed. "Because I can assure you that I am as much of a human being as you are and if you think that my ancient soul gives me some kind of head start to all you regular mortals then you're _wrong_!"

The ferry's horn blew and she cursed under her breath remembering her goal. Turning away from her "teammate" she hurried her pace while he recovered. She didn't make it, of course, so she made the best of it and continued walking. Maybe she could somehow lose him.

"I'm not going to keep chasing you!" he called after her when she started walking again.

"Fine!"

"But if you want help you need to ask for it sometimes!"

_Crack._

"What?" she spun back to look at him. "I should ask for help? You didn't ask for my help when your brother was in trouble, yet I could _see_ that you needed it! But when it came to me needing help where were you? Either of you? Bolin only raised an eyebrow as long as he thought someone else was courting me!"

This caught him off guard. "Someone has been -?"

"Wrong! Again!" She hadn't even noticed that she'd walked back to him. "Councilman Tarrlok has been trying to _buy_ my agreement into his little taskforce."

"Tarrlok…? Wasn't that the guy who hosted that big party in your honour?"

"Finally! A correct assumption!" She turned to the edge of the road and looked over at the statue of her predecessor. "And he did get what he wanted because _no one_ – at least none of my friends – seemed the least bit interested in me!"

"That's not true," he sighed and reached for her shoulder but she dropped to the ground and swung her legs out over the side. "We've just all been … busy this week. And I'm sorry for assuming… when you didn't show up for practice, I just –"

"You assumed that I was a no-show like Hasook and decided to go on a little date with your new best friend," she said and rested her chin in her hand. "Oh! I have an idea! Why don't you make _her_ your new teammate? That way you don't have to bother with me anymore and I can get back to why I came here in the first place!"

"Don't be stupid!" he scowled and sat down beside her. "And I really am sorry that we were so blinded by our excitement that we didn't notice you were having a hard time." Inhaling deeply he asked the next question. "So what happened with Amon? It didn't say anything in the newspapers and you haven't exactly been around to tell us personally."

"He ambushed me," she admitted and hugged her knees.

"He didn't – take your bending away, did he?" She saw his hand hesitantly move over to touch her elbow but she just shrugged it away.

"No," she admitted and moved her hands to bend the water below them. "He said something about becoming a martyr and not risking such a thing…"

"Well… that's good, I guess." He'd pulled his hand back. "You know, you can't keep being on that taskforce, right? It's the wrong way to go about this problem…"

"Oh, _now _you're interested? I'd been avoiding him and his annoying gifts for days!" she told him.

"Until the gala," he concluded.

"Yeah," she sighed, "if I hadn't been so frightened of Amon I could have _told_ them that you can't fight a revolution like you fight a war. It's only a symptom of what is _really_ wrong with society!"

"Wow!" he couldn't help but laugh. "Since when did you become so smart?"

She offered him a small smile. "I didn't use all my time caught up in that prison training. I've been educated in politics, history, war tactics, and so on."

"Wait, hold on! _Prison?_" he asked.

She rose and stretched. "That's another thing you don't know about me, City Boy," she grinned. "And you're not the only one with a rough childhood. But, I won't tell you today."

Moving her hands she bent the water so it froze into a small boat. "See you at practice tomorrow!" she said as she grabbed her groceries and jumped off the harbour leaving the firebender slightly dumbstruck. Had she forgiven him or not?

Shaking his head he watched her propel herself back to Airtemple Island. At least she'd agreed to show up for practice. Now he just had to remember his deal of the bargain; use time on reading her. He'd known from the beginning that she was more of a girl than she wanted everyone to believe, but he had forgotten that she could get hurt too.

* * *

Yeah, after episode 4 I was REALLY pissed at Mako and Bolin. Especially because Korra had a lot of problems and they didn't see it at all. I'm a Makorrian through and through, but I can't stand it when friends don't realize when others need their help.

That's all for today.


End file.
